Together Again
by ucsbdad
Summary: Kate Beckett and her vampire friend, Simone, meet up again with Colette Stenger, Rita Sullivan and Raina Mavias, in addition to a few other characters who have also been played by Stana Katic.
1. Chapter 1

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

Raina Mavias walked quickly past her friends and business partners and headed for their office. She opened her small safe and began taking out her money and false IDs.

Her two friends walked into the office. "Raina, what is it?" Rita Sullivan asked.

"Problem?" Collette Stenger asked.

"Raina, what is it?" Rita repeated.

"I got a call from the hospital the Castles put Staysa in. She's gone. Grabbed by two men when a nurse took her out in a wheelchair. I have to go find her."

"We'll go with you." Collette said, going to her desk and opening her own safe.

Rita did the same.

"What do you two think you're doing?"

"We're going with you." Collette answered distractedly, concentrating on her phony passports.

"That's absurd. If you're caught, you'll go back to prison for the rest of your life. And they'll make damned sure you stay there."

Collette held up one of her pistols. "I won't go back to prison. I'll kill myself first."

"Sweetie, maybe you should stay here. We need someone to run the place. I can go with Raina." Rita said.

Raina snorted in derision. "And if you're caught, you go back to prison in Florida for twenty-five to life, plus whatever they give you for escaping. Maybe they'll even try to hang the murder of the guards on you. That'll get you the needle."

Rita stood up and walked over to Raina. "You're family, Raina. And so is your sister, Staysa. Even if I've never met her. Except for Caleb, I've never had family before. I'm going."

Collette joined them. "I was a cold-blooded bitch for most of my life, living for the big score and the high it gave me. I met Theo and I actually fell in love." She laughed bitterly. "And Theo turned out to be a German intelligence operative. He turned me over to the Americans and I ended up in prison as a terrorist. Oddly, prison did change me and regaining my freedom allowed me to prove to myself that I can be and am a good person. And a good person does not let a brain damaged girl get kidnapped and do nothing about it. I'm going."

"You two are crazy."

"If we weren't, we wouldn't be here in the first place." Rita teased.

"It has to be Sylvia Vadalos." Raina said. "She's always hated me for being her husband's mistress. And because he loved me."

Neither of the other two women thought that gangster Virgil Vadalos loved anyone but himself, but they said nothing.

"At least you don't have to worry about the cops. They never did care about the goons you killed for raping Staysa and putting her in a coma. And when they caught that dirty cop, they got him for shooting Vadalos."

Raina shook her head. "It doesn't mean anything to Sylvia. She still blames me for Virgil's death."

"We need to tell Marianne that she'll be in charge now." Rita thought they needed to change the subject.

"I hope she doesn't want to come too." Raina muttered.

The three women finished in their offices and went to see their manager. Marianne was a lady who was blind in one eye, and a past that she never talked about and no one ever asked about. She also looked exactly like her three bosses.

"I swear, if we run into anymore people who look like us, I'll start hearing the Twilight Zone music."

Raina ignored Rita's comment. "Marianne, we need to go to LA for a while. Can you handle everything in our absence?"

"How long will you be gone?"

The three owners exchanged glances. "We don't know. And if anything happens to us, the place is yours. There are papers in the office safe. "

Marianne was obviously shocked. "Wait? What could happen to you? What are you doing?"

"It'd be better if you don't know." Raina said softly. "Take care of the place until we're back, or until…." She went no further.

Marianne shook her head. " _Las Tres Virgenes_ is the hottest bar in all of Cabo San Lucas. We've expanded it twice and we've added the best restaurant in town and a first class hotel. And you're just walking away from it with no explanation?"

"It's family."

"Okay, then I'm going with you."

Raina shook her head. "Someone has to stay here and run the place. We have money, but we may need more. We need you here, Marianne. Please?"

Marianne hugged each of the three women. "Be careful, please. If you need anything, let me know. I'll do anything."

They went to their home and packed for the trip. In spite of the fact that they looked almost identical, they could make themselves look more like sisters and not triplets. Raina was a blonde, with hair so light as to be almost white. She usually wore four inch heels and a push up bra to make her boobs look bigger than her "sisters'".

Rita usually wore flats as she was quarter inch shorter than the other two. She had added blonde streaks to her light brown hair. Collette dyed her already dark brown hair even darker and had invested in a pair of green contact lenses. She favored wedge heels that added two inches to her height.

They drove in Collette's Mercedes, which had a space where they could store their false IDs, pistols and the bulk of their money.

"Just what are we going to do when we get to LA?" Rita asked.

Riana shrugged. "I'll figure that out when we get there."

"Maybe we should have a plan."

"I got into Virgil's place before when he had all his thug guards there. Sylvia didn't have the balls to take over Virgil's illegal operations, his competition grabbed that. She still has his legitimate businesses and all of his cash, but she'll be hard pressed to come up with competent guards."

"Except that she's grabbed Staysa and knows you'll be coming after her." Collette said." I'd say she's probably got lots and lots of guards around her and Staysa, just waiting for you."

"What the hell do you want me to do? Just leave my poor baby sister with that bitch?" Raina exploded.

"No, of course not." Collette said calmly. "We just need to have a plan. Look things over. See what's what. I'm good at that."

"And we're not?" Rita said.

"You stabbed your ex-lover to death because he wouldn't help when Caleb, _his_ son by you, was found to have a deadly kidney disease."

"I didn't kill Doug. I stabbed him but his bitch wife finished him off."

"And you got caught. And Raina here ended up shooting the man who did _not_ have anything to do with the rape and beating of her sister. She just got caught up in a power play by one of Virgil's underlings."

"And you ended up doing life without parole in a maximum security prison." Raina shot back.

"See? We've all made mistakes. So we have to learn from our mistakes. Be smarter. Okay? Whatever we do, you can't just go charging into Sylvia's with guns blazing."

They made it through US Customs and Immigration at the border with no problems. Just three attractive, upscale ladies coming back from some fun in Mexico.

They drove to LA without talking. Once in the city, Rita, who was now driving stayed on the Santa Monica Freeway.

"We'll need to get off and head for the Hollywood Hills. That's where Virgil's home was."

"Which is exactly why we're not going there, Raina. We don't want you anywhere near where anyone at all who knew Virgil or who knows his widow can see you."

"Where will we go then?"

"We'll find a nice, big hotel near the airport. Airport hotels are used to people coming and going and they won't pay any special attention to people with accents."

"I hardly have an accent anymore and neither does Collette."

"Wha, Sweetie, Ah was talkin' 'bout ma accent, 'tho I don't really have no accent. It's them damnyankees that has accents."

Collette laughed. "She's right, Raina. We'll need to carefully check Sylvia's place. She'll be expecting you, but not us. That should give us a little of the element of surprise."

They checked into a nice, anonymous and large chain hotel under the names they had chosen for this trip. Names they'd never used before.

First, they drove to the nursing home that the Castles had put Staysa in. The three women had saved Kate's life. And while neither of the Castles could do anything to help the three women, they could and did help Staysa.

"Ms. Mavias?" The manager of the home said, rising from behind her desk. Raina saw that her name plate identified her as Dr. Grivas. "I am so, so sorry about what happened to your sister. Nothing, nothing at all, like that has ever happened here before. I just don't know what to say."

"Have you called Mr. and Mrs. Castle?"

"Yes, of course. Right after we called you. But all we've gotten is their voice mail. Mr. Castle travels on business, I understand. Sometimes his wife goes with him."

"You said my sister was grabbed while she was being taken out for a ride in a wheelchair? Could I talk to the nurse who was with her?"

"OF course. Nurse Ann Plummer. She'd on duty today. It'll just be a moment to get her."

Nurse Plummer was a tall, skinny brunette who seemed genuinely distraught about Staysa's kidnapping. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Mavias. I started taking Staysa out in a wheelchair several months ago when the weather got nice. She seemed to enjoy it, although, of course, it's hard to tell with the poor thing. And I had heard that you sang to her in Russian. I don't know any Russian, but I did sing to her and she seemed to like it." She began to cry. "And now the poor thing is gone. I just feel awful about this."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I had taken her out on the far end of the property, by the lake. We were just looking at the lake when I heard someone come up behind me. I thought it as another nurse or patient, but before I could turn around, I was hit with one of those stun guns. I still have the marks." She pulled up her scrubs' top and turned around. Raina could see she'd been stunned several times.

"You said there were two men. If Nurse Plummer was knocked down, how did you know that?"

Dr. Grivas replied. "We have surveillance cameras. Sometimes our patients get lost, you know. But they were too far away for the police to get any, what did they call them? Facial recognition and we never saw their car."

"Could I see them? Perhaps I can identify them."

"Oh, we gave them to the FBI. Since it was a kidnapping, the FBI is involved. Oh, a Special Agent Moreno said you should call as soon as you could. He gave me his card." She handed Raina a business card.

"They're trying to get in touch with the Castles, too. They think the criminals want a ransom from the Castles since they we're paying for the poor girl's care."

Raina took the card, knowing she'd only call the FBI as a last resort and after giving her friends time to disappear.

The next morning, they drove out to look over the Vadalos' home. At Collette's insistence, Raina rode in the back seat with a scarf around her head. The other women had large sunglasses and baseball caps. They managed to find a small shopping center from which they could look over at their target. They stopped at a high end coffee shop and sat outside.

Collette took out her camera.

"Photos?" Raina said. "Good idea. She might have changed things since I was there."

"My camera has a really good telephoto app and this one is telling me something. There's a big for sale sign on the house. And I can see a car in front, with some kind of logo on the doors. Damn! She's moved."

"If she's moved, I'll bet the real estate people know where she is." Rita said.

"Yeah, like they're going to rat out their client." Collette snapped.

"Wha, darlin', you jist don't know how charmin' a Southern girl can be. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, send me a rescue party."

"Rita, do you have…?" Collette mimed a gun with her hand.

"Right in my purse." Rita winked at the two women and walked to their car and left.

"Damn. We should have brought a car apiece. If she does need help, it'll take us an hour to walk to the house." Collette fumed.

As Rita drove up to the house, a petite, very well dressed redhead came out of the house with a huge, fake smile on her face. "I can tell you right now that you're just going to love this place. Hi, I'm Holly Carstairs, Bowen and Clark Realtors. Just let me show you around."

Rita gave an equally fake smile as she got out of the car. "Oh, Ah know what the inside is like. Mah husband and I sold some ahtwork to Mister an' Miz Vadalos. We moved back to Atlanta yeahs ago, but when I had to come to LA on bidness, I decided to drop by ma old customers. Imagine mah surprise that po' Mr. Vadalos was dead. Shot bah some crooked po-liceman. Imagine that. And eve'one was sayin' Mr Vadalos was some sort of criminal? I just can't believe that. But I can understand whah Miz Vadalos would want to leave this place."

"Oh! You hadn't heard then?" Holly said.

"Heah what?"

"Poor Mrs. Vadalos is dead. She killed herself on Mr. Vadalos' grave with the gun that was used to kill him. It was legally his weapon, so the police gave it back after the trial of that awful Detective Beck."

"Oh, ma stahs!" Rita, not having to feign shock. "The poor thing killed hersef'?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Well, Ah'm so sorry to have bothered you. I really shouldn't take up any of youh time."

Holly smiled ruefully. "Actually, I was thrilled to see you. You're the first person I've had come up here all week. The luxury home market is just totally dead right now." Her smile brightened. "Would you like to come inside out of the hot sun? I have both lemonade and iced tea? You can show me the pieces you sold them."

Rita was happy that Raina had told her all about the house. "Do they still have the antique Chinese screen in the livin' room?"

"Yes, it is. It's beautiful by the way. Could you tell me what it's worth? We may try to sell the house as is. That is furnishings and all."

Rita smiled and shook her head. "Wha, Sweetie, doin' aht appraisals is ma business an' Ah expect to get paid when Ah do work. But, really Miz Holly, Ah just don't have the time. Ah'm sure youh office can find just scads and scads of reputable appraisers heah in LA."

Rita chatted with the real estate saleswoman for ten minutes or so, but got no further information about Sylvia Vadalos.

When Rita left, Holly took out her phone and called a particular number. She gave a description of Rita and the license plate number of her car. She really hated to do this to a possible client, but the luxury home market really had been dead for too long. A girl has to get by, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

"What did you find out?" Raina demanded as soon as they got in the car.

"According to the sales lady, Sylvia Vadalos is dead. She killed herself on Virgil Vadalos' grave. And she used the gun that dirty detective used to kill Virgil."

"Bullshit. Sylvia has children. She'd never leave them like that. She's no more dead than I am. She's just using that to go underground with Taysa."

"We'll have to check." Collette said. "Do you know how to get to Venice Beach?"

Rita shook her head. "I don't, but I'm pretty sure the car's GPS can find it. Why?"

"We need to find out something that people don't want us to know. That's what I used to do. But I need some things."

Venice Beach was full of surgically enhanced blondes in bikinis trying to get discovered and muscular, basketball playing young men, trying to convince the blondes they were producers.

"Looks like Miami.' Rita sniffed.

"Park over there. I could be a while, I'll have to convince someone I'm not a cop."

Several young men came over to talk to the two women. Rita smiled at them and asked sweetly, "Have ya'll accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"

After that, the number of young men approaching them declined, but never quite stopped.

After an hour and a half, Collette came out, carrying a laptop.

"We could have gotten a computer anywhere." Riana said testily.

"But we couldn't have gotten the programs we need just anywhere. Back to the hotel."

Once in the hotel, Collette began to work. "The death certificate is a matter of public record and I can get it online without having to hack anything." She looked over the form that came up. "Okay, Sylvia Vadalos, cause of death, self inflicted gunshot wound to the right temple. Raina, look it over. Do you see anything that shouldn't be there? Or something that should be that isn't?"

Raina carefully looked over the death certificate, reading it twice. "As far as I can tell, everything is correct. I don't know things like her date of birth, or her parents. Next of kin is listed as her Uncle Augustus Vadalos, but he was Virgil's uncle. Tough old bastard. I don't see her children mentioned."

Collette shook her head. "There's no place on the death certificate for children of the deceased. So, everything looks okay."

"But I know it isn't."

"But it looks okay, which would have to mean that someone went to a lot of trouble to set this up. Let's see what the coroner's report look like. I'll have to do some hacking on this, but the security for them shouldn't be too tight."

It took about ten minutes, but Collette soon found Sylvia's autopsy report. "Damn. I don't know enough about medicine to tell if something is off on this report."

Both Rita and Raina looked over Collette's shoulder.

"Sorry." Rita said. "It's just a bunch of medical double talk to me."

"It'll be perfect. That bitch paid off someone high up and they'd have made sure that a real doctor did the report and did it right."

"Let's see what we can find out about the good ex-Detective Beck." Collette went back to work on the laptop. She took longer this time.

"Okay, he's in Folsom Prison. Not in the general population, which is common for ex-cops."

"The bastards stick together, don't they?" Rita said bitterly.

"Convicted of the murder of Virgil Vidalos, obstruction of justice….Hmm. Apparently falsified evidence concerning the murder of his partner by some Nazis. Doing twenty five to life."

"I was there. She was going to take us both in, but some Nazi bastard shot her in the head. Beck dropped the guy."

"This is interesting." Collette said.

"What?" The two other women said.

"The most he's ever had in his prison commissary account is seventeen dollars."

"So?" Raina said.

"So, no one is paying him to keep quiet about anything. Or talk about anything. You'd think that Sylvia would want the one living man who knew you best in a talkative mood in case he knew anything. Apparently not."

"Maybe she promised him a ton of money and then welshed on the deal. What's he going to do? Call a cop? And remember, he killed her husband."

"Do you mind if I look at your records, Raina?"

She laughed. "Are you afraid you'll find out I've been a bad girl?"

Rita put her hand on Raina's shoulder. "We've all been bad little girls. But we're different now."

Collette worked at hacking into the LAPD's database. "You have been a bad girl. You were a suspect in a bunch of murders, including Virgil's."

"The bastards raped Staysa and beat her into a coma. I'd do it again and I'd do it slower and more painfully."

"None of us are condemning you for what you did." Collette said gently. "But, you lucked out. All of the evidence was considered tainted because it was furnished by either Beck or Hanover, his partner, or they had access to it. Hanover was apparently sleeping with Beck and no one knew how involved she was. Once Beck went down for Vadalos' murder, and Hanover was killed, the rest of the cases were dropped for lack of evidence."

"Let's see what we can get from the LAPD's organized crime folks." Since Collette was already in the LAPD's database, she had little trouble breaking into the organized crime task force's records. The record for Virgil Vadalos went back decades, so Collette and Raina sat at the computer and went over what had happened to his criminal empire after his death.

"It looks like you were right." Collette said. "Sylvia couldn't keep his illegal operations. M 13, a Central American gang got most of the drugs. The prostitution went to a number of LA based black gangs. Gambling was taken over by two of Virgil's people and one of them got his head blown off shortly thereafter. Illegal weapons sales….It looks like a dozen or so people grabbed pieces of that."

"What does Sylvia have left?" Raina asked,

Collette ran through the file. "There's not much here about her. Or her finances. Let me check the Vadalos' financial records. Do you know anything about where Virgil kept his money?"

Raina shook her head. "He always either gave me cash, or bought things for me using his own credit card. I really never paid any attention to the money. We were in love. Or at least I thought we were."

" _We_ all were all really in love." Rita said softly. "Just with the wrong guys. We'll find someone who loves us back. You just wait and see."

Collette smiled at her. "You're an incurable optimist."

"I don't think pessimists ever have much fun."

"Hey, we've got something. It's from the courts. All Sylvia's money is in trust to her kids. That Uncle Gus and some lawyers control the trust. Let me dig into this."

An hour and a half later, Collette threw up her hands in disgust. "The problem is, I have no idea what Virgil had before he got killed and I have no way to trace it. The bastard was hiding his money from the government, the police and apparently from his wife."

"His wife?" Rita said.

"Duh! He had a girlfriend. You think he wanted his wife to look at his credit card bills and wonder why she hasn't gotten all of that jewelry he's been buying?"

"It doesn't make any difference. "Raina said quickly. "We know she has enough money to hire people to kidnap Staysa and to go underground. And enough to hire plenty of muscle."

"We have two advantages." Collette said thoughtfully. "She doesn't know about us." She laughed. "You know, Raina really can be in two places at once, or even three. We just need some wigs or maybe a dye job. And she doesn't know we have money, too."

"Sylvia doesn't want money. She wants to kill me and to kill poor Staysa as well."

Collette leaned back and stretched. "There's a thought. She doesn't know where Raina was, because if she did, she'd have sent a couple of killers to Cabo to take you out. So how does she get you to come to her?"

"She's going to tell us." Rita said suddenly. "She'd have known that Raina would go to the nursing home they took Staysa from. They stake out the place and when they see Raina, they follow her."

"Shit!" Collette muttered. "Then they know that Raina has two friends."

Rita looked puzzled. "If she wants the two of you dead, why not post a sniper at the nursing home to drop you and then do away with Staysa?"

Raina laughed bitterly. "She wants me to _suffer_. Really suffer. Her plans for me don't include a quick death."

Collette took out her pistol and examined it. "My plans for her include just that. Remember, if you ever get a chance to kill her, just kill her. Don't waste time telling her how much you hate her or anything else. Just kill her."

"You've killed before?" Raina asked. Neither of the three had gone too deeply into some parts of their personal lives with the others.

"When I had to. The ones I killed deserved it. In fact, they deserved to die very slowly and very painfully. Not that I was acting as some sort of avenging angel. That wasn't who I was back then. They tried to double cross me to avoid paying my fee."

"Why did Sylvia fake her death?" Rita suddenly asked. "There'd be no need for it. She grabs Staysa, lures you to your death and then goes back to her normal life. Why fake her own death?"

The three women stopped and thought about that for several long minutes. Then Raina nodded to herself.

"The Castles. If Staysa and I "disappeared" or even turned up dead, the LAPD and the FBI would look at Sylvia pretty closely. But she'd be surrounded by lawyers. They push and she'd push back. After a while, they'd just put it in the unsolved box and move on. But Sylvia must know that the Castles were paying for Staysa's treatment. I looked into them after they moved Staysa to a top of the line facility and paid for it. They don't give up. They took down a sitting US Senator who was damned near President. They killed a pair of notorious serial killers. Sylvia would know they'd be after her forever. But if she's dead….?"

"Would she give up her children like that?" Collette asked.

Raina shook her head. "Good old Uncle Gus would take the kids to some nice, safe country with no extradition treaty with the US. Then when everything died down, Sylvia would show up. With a new ID, to be sure. Maybe even a new face. The bitch could use one."

"And live happily ever after." Collette finished for her.

"So, all we have to do is wait for Sylvia to let me know when and where the "ransom" for Staysa is to be delivered."

"I hate waiting." Collette and Rita said together.

They didn't have too long to wait. The next day Raina got a postcard under her assumed name. It as a picture postcard of Manhattan. Written in block letters was one sentence. "Wish you were here."

Kate Beckett opened the door to the loft, dropped her bags and sank gratefully into a couch.  
"Thank you so much for the ride. After that God awful plane ride, I couldn't have taken a New York cab ride."

The brunette woman smiled. "I was happy to do it, Captain, considering all you've done for me."

"All I ever did was give you an opportunity. That's something I try to do for all of my people. You took the opportunity and ran with it. Now you're about to become a detective."

Officer Rachel Morgenstern shook her head. "Please, Captain. Don't jinx it. The list isn't out yet. I may not make detective."

Kate began ticking off points on her fingers. "One, I put you in civilian clothes. And, in case you haven't noticed it, both Lieutenants Ryan and Esposito think you're pretty good. Two, you aced the written exam. And three, I happen to have it on very good authority that you were very impressive at your interview."

"Still, I'm worried." Morgenstern giggled. "At least I didn't break your record for making detective."

"Someone will."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Kate began to get out of the chair, but Rachel Morgenstern headed for the door. "I'll get it, Captain."

She opened the door and smiled. "Mrs. Carsen. How good to see you."

Simone Carsen, nee Renoir looked around. "Mrs. Carsen? I thought we were friends, Rachel."

Rachel blushed. "It's good to see you, Simone."

Simone hugged the younger woman and entered the loft.

"Kate! You're back. How was your trip?"

Kate rose and hugged Simone. "The book fairs were wonderful. As always, I was so proud of Rick. But the plane flights were ghastly. Weather problems, mechanical problems, a medical emergency in flight, a fight between two elderly women….I've never been so happy to get home in my life."

Simone looked around. "Where are Lily and Rick?"

"Rick had to drop by Black Pawn. Gina wants an up to the date report on the book fairs we went to. Given Rick's mood, she'll probably regret it. And, since we really couldn't take Lily with us, her grandma and big sister are spoiling her rotten in Chicago. Martha's play is being produced there. They hope to get it to Broadway. And how is Big Flynn and Little Flynn?"

Simone smiled enormously. "Judson was right. Little Flynn is not the least bit vampire. He's one hundred percent human."

"As are you." Both Kate and Rachel said at once. All three laughed.

"Flynn is, as usual, down in the depths of The Library. He's supposed to be helping Judson and Charlene do an inventory and looking after Little Flynn, but I suspect that Excalibur is doing the actual babysitting. Why do they call it baby _sitting_? They run around all of the time."

Before Kate could reply, they got a phone call on the landline. She answered it.

"Mrs. Castle?"

"Yes."

"This is Dr. Grivas. From LA? It's about poor Staysa Mavias."

"Did something happen to her?"

"She was kidnapped. Two men just grabbed her and took off with her."

"When was this?"

"Four days ago. We tried to call you, but your phone must have been off."

"Both of our phones were damaged. We haven't gotten new ones yet. Did you call the police?"

"Yes, of course. The police and the FBI have been here. The FBI, an Agent Moreno here in LA, wants to talk to you." There was a brief pause. "Oh, dear. I gave his card to Ms. Mavias. Raina, that is. Poor Staysa's older sister."

"She was there?"

"Of course. I had to call her, she's the next of kin."

"Thank you, Dr. Grivas. I'm a captain with the NYPD. I can contact the FBI here. Thank you so much for calling."


	3. Chapter 3

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

Both Simone and Rachel had a good idea of what had happened, but Kate briefed them.

"Raina isn't wanted for anything anymore, although if she attracts the attention of the LAPD, that could change." Kate finished up.

"Is she still with those two escaped prisoners she was with?" Simone asked.

"I have no idea. But they all seemed to be very close. Collette Stenger especially wanted me to try to help both Rita Sullivan and Raina. She didn't at all come across as the cold blooded terrorist she's portrayed to be."

"What should we do?" Rachel asked.

"I'm going to call Black Pawn and talk to Rick. We'll need to go talk to the local FBI. I know Raina is keeping a low profile and hasn't been to see Staysa since we moved her. She may not know the LAPD isn't looking for her. I imagine that the ransom demand will come to Rick and me."

"But what do _we_ do?" Simone repeated Rachel's question.

"Simone, this isn't anything to do with you. You need to keep a very low profile. We don't want anyone to find out you're a vampire. And having Rachel in my precinct starts enough silly gossip and stories on Page Six. If Raina gets involved…"

"Kate! I'm your friend. And I'm a part time, unpaid, honorary, assistant NYPD homicide detective. I'm going to help. Besides, everyone knows that vampires can't stand sunlight. And I can, thanks to the Judas Chalice. Unless I do something stupid, like show my fangs, no one will know. "

Kate sighed. Simone could be as stubborn as….Kate Beckett. She smiled at her friend. "Okay, but let's try to keep the three of us apart. The media does know that there are two women in New York who look like me, but unless we do something, it's just an interesting factoid to the press. We definitely do not need publicity on a kidnapping case."

Kate called Rick and arranged to meet him at the FBI's office in the Federal Building. She asked Rachel and Simone to stay at the loft just in case someone called the landline.

"Captain Beckett?" The FBI receptionist said. "Special Agents Fellowes and Keith will see you now." She pointed to a man and a woman sitting at a desk just a few feet away. The man was older, with salt and pepper grey hair, but trim and muscular. He had the traditional short haircut of an FBI agent, but was wearing a pair of khakis and a blue blazer. When he turned to motion to them to come over, she saw the man had a completely grey mustache.

The woman was younger, dark haired, rather petite and wearing her hair pulled back in a bun. She wore very little make up, if any. She wore the traditional blue power suit favored by the FBI, but with a skirt that went well below the knee.

Rick and Kate stepped forward. She held out her hand to the man. "I'm glad to meet you Special Agent…?"

"I'm Jim Keith and this is my boss, Special Agent Megan Fellowes."

Fellowes shook their hands, but didn't smile.

"A lot of people take me for the senior partner, because of my age." Kate noticed that Keith had a distinct but faint Southern accent. "I enlisted in Uncle Sam's Misguided Children when I was seventeen. I spent twenty years in the Corps and retired as a Marine Gunnery Sergeant. Most folks around here call me Gunny. I was looking for a second career and took a shot at the FBI. To my surprise, they hired me."

"Could we get on with this?" Fellowes said, coldly.

"Certainly." Kate said.

"What exactly is your relationship with the victim, Staysa Mavias?"

"Her older sister, Raina Mavias saved my life when some violent drug dealers tried to kill me."

"And how did you manage to get involved with violent drug dealers, Mrs. Castle?" Fellowes said, rather nastily.

Kate took out her badge. "I'm a captain in the NYPD. I command the 12th Precinct."

Fellowes glared at Keith. "I didn't know that."

"Raina disappeared after she helped me, but I found out about her sister. She's in a coma. We had her transferred to a better care facility."

"That must be quite a challenge on a police captain's salary."

Kate sighed. "My husband is Richard Castle, the author."

"Author?" Fellowes again glared at Keith.

"I offered to brief you." Keith said under his breath.

"My husband has written over thirty best sellers. He's a multimillionaire."

"Actually, we're both multimillionaires. What's mine is hers and vice versa." Rick said, smiling.

"There were two other women with Ms. Mavias when….the incident occurred. You didn't seem to get a very good look at them."

Kate avoided rolling her eyes. "Raina was the girlfriend of a LA gangster named Virgil Vadalos. She was a suspect in his murder, but an LAPD cop was convicted of the crime. I don't know if Raina knows she's no longer wanted. As far as the other women were concerned….If you were a travelling with someone you thought was a fugitive, would you want a cop to get a good look at your face?" Kate hadn't exactly lied, she had made a statement of what women in that position would probably do. She did not tell Agent Fellowes what had happened.

"Rather odd that a police officer would take that much interest in…such a woman."

"Raina saved my life. And even if she was mass murderer, that has nothing to do with Staysa Mavias. She was raped and battered into a coma by a group of neo-Nazi drug dealers." Kate said angrily.

"Perhaps we should worry more about the current kidnaping?" Keith suggested. When Fellowes said nothing, he briefed the protocols for a kidnaping, something they were all too familiar with.

"We'll have a team at your place in a few hours to set up a phone trace for when the ransom call comes."

"Fine. I have one of my officers, an Officer Rachel Morgenstern, at our loft. My office phone at the precinct already is set up for tracing and we can have our cell phones set up as well."

Once they were back in Beckett's vehicle, she turned to Rick. "What did you think?"

"I think I wish to hell that Keith was in charge. I think Fellowes knows more about Collette and Rita than she told us and is a hell of a lot more interested in them than poor Staysa or Raina."

Kate nodded. "I've tried to find out a little about Collette. Everybody I talked to was very closed mouth about her. But the government seems to want her back very badly. That'd be a real career maker for a young, ambitious FBI agent, wouldn't it?"

"If you're trying to make me feel better, it isn't working."

Kate took out her phone. It rang three times before she heard, "Special Agent Jordan Shaw."

"Hi, Jordan, it's Kate Beckett. From New York. Can you talk?"

"I was just about to go to bed, but sure, I can talk."

"Go to bed?"

"I'm on Guam. I can't say anymore. What do you need?"

Kate briefed Jordan on the kidnaping. "I'd like to know who I'm dealing with on the FBI."

Jordan Shaw laughed. "I know Keith. Don't let the good ole' boy persona fool you. He's working on his PHD in psychology. And he's lethal. He was a scout-sniper in the Marine Corps. I forget how many times he went to Iraq and Afghanistan, but he spent a lot of time there."

"What about Special Agent Fellowes?"

"I know her by reputation only. Her father is "Wild Bill" Fellowes. He's a legend in the Agency. He took down the Baker brothers. Four dangerous and violent bank robbers who swore they'd never be taken alive. He took them alive. He defused a bomb in Chicago that could have taken down a whole city block full of skyscrapers. Oh, don't tell anyone there was a bomb in Chicago. No one's supposed to know. He's now the head of an interagency counter terrorism task force."

"Sounds like quite a guy."

"He is, and Megan Fellowes has spent her whole life trying to get out from under the shadow of her father. She's good, in fact she's damned good, but she's not a team player. She has to do everything herself so she can be just as good as her dad. Which is odd, because Wild Bill is a team player."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of her being in charge of this." Kate said, worriedly.

"Like I said, she's damned good and Keith can usually keep her in line. Anything else?"

Kate said thanks and hung up.

"Shit." They both said at once.

The FBI team arrived and set up the trace on the phones in the loft. It turned out they were unnecessary.

"Uh, oh." Castle said, opening the mail the next day.

"What is it?" Kate asked.

"We got a DVD in the mail. It says, "Can you save her?", on the cover."

They told the FBI agents who set up a video teleconference with the FBI headquarters in Manhattan. When Fellowes and Keith were there, they played the DVD.

The video was about three minutes of Staysa, crying, against a totally black background. A heavily modified voice told them to get three million dollars ready and to have it delivered by Raina Mavias. It ended with the usual warning. "We'll tell you where to go later. No cops or the girl dies."

The agents sent the DVD to the FBI headquarters for analysis, but no one thought that would do any good.

"How the hell are we going to get Raina Mavias here?" Kate said, angrily. "We have no idea where she is."

"You really have no idea where she is?" Fellowes demanded. She sounded like she didn't believe that Rick and Kate didn't know where she was,

"No idea."

"Then what are we supposed to do, Captain Beckett?"

"I look a lot like Raina. Get me a blonde wig and I'll go in her place."

Fellowes shook her head. "They said no cops and you're too well known. "

"There's an Officer Morgenstern who looks a lot like me."

Again, Fellowes shook her head. "I've seen pictures of her. She does look exactly like you and she also looks like a cop,"

"There's another friend of mine who'll fit the bill." Kate said, hating to involve Simone.

"Just how many people do you know that look like you, anyway?" Fellowes demanded.

"More than I would have thought possible. But neither of them is any kind of long lost relative. DNA testing proved that. It's just a very, very odd coincidence. But it helps us."

"is this person trustworthy?"

"Absolutely." Kate shot back.

Within an hour, Simone was at the loft. Rick and Kate took her into the office to brief her.

"But, of course I will go." Simone said with a smile. "After all, I am now an _official,_ part time, unpaid, honorary assistant NYPD homicide detective. How could I refuse?"

"Simone, "Kate said to her friend, "You'll be being watched, at a distance, by the FBI. If you should do anything….."

"That a vampire would do?" Simone giggled. "You worry too much. No one, aside from you and a few others, believe in vampires. And if someone sees something at a distance, we'll just say they were wrong. No one can prove I'm a vampire, since there are no tests for vampires. Oh, they could expose me to the sun, but that's not a problem for me anymore."

"Simone, we don't know what totally human characteristics you've picked up because of your exposure to the Judas Chalice. It has changed you radically. A bullet could kill you. I can't be responsible for Flynn and Flynn Jr. losing you."

"And you won't be. I'm an adult." Simone smiled. "In fact, I'm the most adult adult you know. I'm over four hundred years old. People risk their lives every day. It's what we humans do."

Hours went by and just after ten o'clock that night, a delivery man dropped of a small package. Inside the package was a burner phone. It already had a text message on it. "Drive to the West Side Highway."

Rick handed Simone the money they'd collected. Regrettably, Rick had reasons from the past to keep a large amount of cash on hand at his bank. He handed Simone the keys to the Ferrari.

"No one is going to suspect a Ferrari as being a police car. Good luck."

Simone winked at both of them, and headed out the door.

Once on the West Side Highway, she got a text telling her to head back towards Tribeca. From there, she was sent all over the Five Boroughs. She was told to stop in an all night market and walk through, then stand in front of the windows in the light.

Simone understood that they wanted to get a good look at her and confirm that she was Raina. She smiled and stood in front of the windows, letting whoever was outside have a good look at her. Finally, she was told to get back in the car and drive to an address in Manhattan.

Simone nodded to herself. She was headed to a club district. At this time of night, the clubs would be packed, and lots of people would be on the sidewalks, going from one club to another or just hanging out on the sidewalks.

As she drew up to the address she had been given, she gasped. "Oh, no."


	4. Chapter 4

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

There were police cars all over, lights flashing and people being ushered away by uniforms. Then she saw two familiar faces.

"Lieutenant Ryan! Lieutenant Esposito!" She called.

Ryan walked over to talk to her. "Sorry, Simone. This is a crime scene. We can't let you in."

"I'm here on business. Please call Captain Beckett. There's been a kidnapping of a friend of the Castles'. I was supposed to make a ransom drop at that club." She pointed.

Ryan called Esposito over and explained. "We'd better call Beckett."

While Espo called the captain, Ryan had Simone park and led her past the police lines, but kept her outside of the club.

In minutes, Rick, Kate and the FBI agents arrived. Fellowes and Keith were a few minutes later.

Ryan briefed them. "Someone rented a back room for a private party. They paid in cash and the guy ID himself as Mr. Smith. The dead are three men and a woman. We pulled IDs from the men. They're local muscle, but pretty expensive. The woman has a California driver's license. She's Sylvia Vadalos, lives in LA."

"Any sign of an injured girl?" Kate asked,

"Just them. The shooters came in through the back, cracked a back door, opened up with automatic weapons, 9mm submachine guns from the cases they left behind and went out the way they came in. There are no cameras anyplace back there. No one saw or heard anything until the shooting started."

"Shit." This time Rick, Kate and Simone said that in unison.

At Collette's suggestion, they hired a business jet to take them to New York. That way they could take their weapons and other false documents with them and avoid a search on a commercial flight. Arriving in Manhattan, Raina went to the Fairwick Hotel by herself. Dressed expensively with a Dior little black dress, a Louis Vuitton purse and luggage, and with a very large diamond wedding ring on, she was taken at once to the Presidential Suite.

Hours later when the desk clerk had been replaced at the end of his shift, Collette and Rita arrived. They were dressed nicely, but not as expensively as Raina had been. They showed more of their legs and their cleavage. The desk clerk, used to women arriving to see their "uncles" or "brothers" was mindful of the Fairwick's policy of being very, very discrete, asked no questions.

Collette and Rita went to their room and unpacked, then called Raina and made sure she was there. Then they went up the stairs to her room, not wanting to be seen by anyone anywhere near Raina in the hopes of keeping their existence secret from Sylvia Vadalos.

But on the way up, they were surprised by a young girl coming unsteadily down the stairs. Her blonde hair and makeup were mussed and her blouse wasn't tucked in properly. She stopped and stared at the two women.

Then she giggled. "Shh." She put a finger to her lips. "I'm not s'posed to be here. But, i's okay. Daddy is off with his sex-retary, and won't be back until late. So, I had a li'l fun." She slurred. Then she continued down the stairs, holding tight to the railing.

"I've changed." Collette said.

"I know, but why bring that up now?" Rita asked, curious.

"My old self would have tried to find out all that I could about the girl, Daddy and the sex-retary in case I could ever use it against them. Tonight, I just wanted to grab her and tell her how stupid she was being. God! I doubt she was even sixteen."

Rita nodded. "I did stupid things like that when I was her age. It eventually got me pregnant by a football player and eventually into prison. But she's too drunk and too young and stupid to listen to us. Come on. We can't solve the world's problems tonight."

They got to Raina's suite and tapped softly on the door, which opened almost at once. Raina dragged them inside and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door knob.

"I told the desk clerk that I'd be making business calls and being on line to both Europe and Asia during my stay and that I wanted no maid service to interrupt me. You two should be able to stay here with me until we hear from that bitch. If anyone does come in, we'll go in the bathroom and turn on the shower. I'll stick my head out and tell them not to bother me."

They spent the night there, then one at a time, went down for breakfast and then lunch and then dinner. Raina wanted to be sure she was noticed. But after twenty four hours, she was beginning to get worried.

"Perhaps we shouldn't have taken a private jet? Sylvia would have had the airports watched for commercial flights, but we didn't go through TSA screening or the baggage claim. She's missed us and doesn't know how to contact me."

"Maybe." Collette said. "And maybe she's just letting you get all worked up so you're not thinking straight when she does call. Remember, this isn't about a ransom, it's about her killing you and Staysa. She wants you to worry yourself sick. That way you won't be thinking straight when she calls."

But, after another twenty four hours with nothing from Sylvia, all three women were worried.

"We need to let her know we're here at the Fairwick." Raina said, while pacing up and down in the living room of her suite.

"How?" Collette replied. "Put an ad in Kidnappers R Us?"

Rita agreed with Collette. "The bitch is going to be keeping low profile. First, she's supposed to be dead and secondly, she's a kidnapper. And, third, we're in New York. How's she going to notice you in a city with eight million people in it? Plus, I don't know how many million more people around the city."

"I can call Kate Beckett and her husband. They were paying for Staysa's care. They know about the kidnapping."

"And the first thing they'd do is call in the FBI. She's a cop." Collette shot back. "That takes Rita and me out of the picture. And the FBI aren't going to let you try to kill the bitch before she can kill you and Staysa."

Raina walked up and down for a moment. "I think you two should go back to Mexico. It's too dangerous for you to stay here. You'll end up dead or back in prison. I'll call Kate and hope I can at least save Staysa before she gets me."

"That is the dumbest idea you've ever had." Collette said. "You need back up for this. And not the kind of back up the FBI would give you. They'll do everything they can to keep from having to shoot the bitch. We'll kill her the first chance we get. Rita, you with me?"

Rita walked over and put her arms around Raina. "We're family now. More family than I've had since little Caleb died. I won't leave you."

Collette joined the group hug. "If you'd have told me I'd end up doing something like this years ago, I'd have thought you were crazy. But you and Rita are all I have. We're in this together."

"Always." Rita added.

"Always." Collette said.

Finally, after almost a minute, Raina spoke. "Always."

Raina pulled out of the hug. "I'll take a burner phone and call Beckett from someplace away from the hotel, just in case they can track the phone somehow. I'll see what she knows."

"We'll go with you." Rita said.

Raina shook her head. "No. I need both of you safe in case this goes wrong somehow. Then I'll need you to rescue Staysa."

"We'll rescue both of you."

Raina snuck out of the hotel and headed for a coffee shop she remembered as being in Tribeca, near Castle's loft. When she got there, she found the coffee shop was gone, but a quick look around brought her to a Starbucks. She ordered a coffee and sat as far from the rest of the customers as she could manage.

It took her a minute or so to get her nerve up, but she dialed Kate Beckett's number.

"Beckett."

Raina took a deep breath. "Hi, it's me."

There was a minute of silence, then, "Oh, hi, how have you been?"

"Is someone there?"

"Yes. Of course." Raina heard Kate talk to someone. "It's a friend. I'm going to go upstairs to take this."

"Raina? Is that you?"

"Yes, Kate, Staysa was kidnapped."

"I know. The nursing home in LA called us."

"It's that bitch, Sylvia Vadalos. She's always hated me."

"She's dead."

"No, she isn't. I just know she isn't. She must have faked her death and come here."

"She may have faked her death in LA, but she's really dead in New York. She was killed in my precinct's jurisdiction. I've seen the body. Sylvia Vadalos is definitely dead."

"Did you find Staysa?"

"I'm afraid not." Kate gave Raina all the information she had on the murders. "We found out where she as staying in Manhattan and raided the place. There were signs that someone needing medical care had been there, but not now. Whoever killed Sylvia Vadalos grabbed Staysa,"

Raina almost began to cry, then remembered she had to be strong for Staysa. "What am I going to do?"

"Riana, are your friends Rita and Collette with you?"

She took a deep breath before answering, "Yes. They're in New York."

"I'm probably not being a very good cop by telling you this, but both Collette and Rita are wanted by the police. You're not, by the way."

"I know all of that."

"You should probably tell them not to stay here, but to leave. They could get in trouble."

Raina laughed. "I tried to tell them that. They refused. It's odd. It's like we're sisters, or something. I can't explain it."

"I think I know what you mean." Kate thought for a moment. "We really should talk face to face. Not, just you, but your friends as well. We can't meet here, the FBI is still here, and the precinct is out. Look, my cousin is staying in my old apartment, but she's doing Europe and won't be back for another month. And, would it be okay if I brought a friend? Her name's Simone Renoir. She'll be a help."

Raina agreed and Kate told her here the apartment was. Kate then walked into Rick's office to find him playing a computer game.

"You should be writing." She said.

"I can't write, knowing poor Staysa is out there in some kidnapper's hands."

"But you can kill zombies?" Kate pointed to the screen.

"It relaxes me."

Kate sat on the edge of the desk and leaned in to kiss him. After the kiss, she leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I just got a call from Raina. She's in New York with her two friends. I'm going to meet them at my old place. I called Simone and asked her to meet me out front. Can you stay here and keep an eye on the FBI?"

"You don't trust them?"

"I think Fellowes has an idea that the other two are with Raina. And I'm sure she's a lot more interested in bringing in some escaped Federal prisoner than she is in getting Staysa back."

"I'll watch them like a hawk."

"While killing zombies?" She teased.

"I do my best hawk like watching while killing zombies."

Kate laughed and left.

Simone arrived before Kate and at once spotted three women sitting in a rental car, trying very hard to look inconspicuous. They were also trying very hard not to look alike. Simone walked over and tapped on the window.

"Kate?" Raina, who was driving, asked.

" _Mais, non_. I am Simone Renoir. I assume you're the friends Kate is meeting here?"

"I've seen you before. In New York. I…..borrowed a motorcycle." A woman in the back seat said.

Simone laughed. "You left money with the bike. The owner decided not to press charges."

"That must be a load off your mind, Collette." Rita teased.

"Are you French?" Simone asked.

"French and German. My name is Collette Stenger. The lady riding shotgun is Rita Sullivan and the blonde driver is Raina Mavias."

Simone stood up. "And the woman we're waiting for has arrived." She waved. "Allo, Kate."

"We should get inside." Kate said, pulling out her keys. "Five of us might attract attention."

Once inside, Kate introduced Simone. "Simone isn't a cop, or a private eye or anything, but she is a very good friend and she's surprisingly useful when things go wrong."

"Kate, does she know about our….prior problems?" Collette asked, suspicious of the newcomer.

"Do I know that you were sent to prison as a terrorist? I also know that you all helped save my best friend's life. As did Rita who stabbed a man, and Raina who stabbed or shot a number of men. With me, friendship is paramount." Simone smiled. "I think you can take your hand away from the pistol you have in your purse, Collette."

Collette blushed and put her purse on the floor by her feet. "Sorry."

Raina went over everything that they had done since she had first gotten the phone call from Dr. Grivas. Kate, then explained in as great a detail as she could what they had found about Sylvia Vadalos' death and Staysa's kidnapping.

"I don't understand why Sylvia and her people were killed before the ransom was delivered." Colette said when Kate was done.

"We may never know. The people who killed Sylvia Vadalos probably won't admit to anything if and when we find them." Kate thought for a second. "There is a possibility that at least makes sense."

"What?" Raina asked, desperate for anything that might help find her sister.

"Vadalos hired local talent to help with the ransom drop. It's possible that they decided to cut Sylvia out or even that other people here in New York heard about what Sylvia was doing and decided to take Sylvia and her people out and grab the ransom. But things went sideways somehow. Our ME, a Dr. Parish, is autopsying the bodies. She may be able to tell us more tomorrow."

"Do you know anything about where Staysa might be?" Raina asked.

"We're looking into known associates of the local thugs that Sylvia hired. Maybe they know something."

"If they know something, we'll get it out of them." Colette said.

"No, you won't." Kate shot back.

The two women glared at each other until Raina spoke. "No, we won't. Captain Beckett is right. We are no longer the kind of people who do that sort of thing."

Colette nodded, but did not fully agree.


	5. Chapter 5

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

Kate stood up. "Ladies, I suggest we all go home and get a good night's sleep. I have a burner phone for each of you that's untraceable and the GPS has been eliminated. The only number on the phone's memory is a similar burner cell that I have. Don't hesitate to call me for any reason. And, we should meet here if we have to. I have a spare key for you. Okay?"

Kate returned to the precinct and then checked with the FBI. No one had any further information. That night, in bed, she talked to her husband, but he had no answers for her. He was so upset at the idea of a disabled woman being kidnapped that he couldn't even try to think of a space alien or CIA angle to the crime.

The next morning Kate found a small package and a delivery man waiting for her. The man had been instructed to just leave the package and go, but a suspicious Detective Ann Hastings had detained him. While the delivery man was led off for interrogation, Kate quickly called their IT tech, Tory Ellis, to her office.

"Tory, I got a DVD this morning. I'm assuming it's from the kidnappers of Staysa Mavias. Will you quickly burn a copy and not tell anyone, and I mean anyone, that you did."

Tory just nodded and grabbed the DVD. She knew that what she was being asked to do was highly unusual, but she had faith in Kate's judgement. If Kate needed a copy, that's exactly what she'd get.

The delivery man knew nothing about where the package was from of who had sent it. While the FBI was notified of the receipt of the DVD, Ryan and Esposito went to the delivery company.

In minutes of arriving, Esposito was on the phone back to Kate.

"Captain, we've got nothing here."

"Nothing at all? You must have gotten something?" Kate replied.

"I don't see how. The DVD was brought in by a kid. He looks Hispanic and was wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and a Yankees cap. The kid gave his name as Alex Rodriguez and his address as One 161st Street, the Bronx."

"Wait! That Address sounds familiar. I know it from somewhere."

Espo nodded. "It's the address of Yankee Stadium. And the kid's hoodie had Alex Rodriguez's number, thirteen, on the back."

"He didn't use a credit card, did he?" Kate said disgustedly.

"No way. He paid in cash. There's no way we could get any facial recognition on him. He not only had the hat, glasses and hoodie, but he looked at the ground the whole time. We might get fingerprints, but I doubt it. Even if we did, I'll bet the kid will just tell us some guy paid him a few bucks to do it. As careful as he was, he had to know he was doing something illegal, but I bet he knows nothing."

Kate sighed. "Good work, Espo. Canvas the neighborhood and see if anyone knows the kid or has seen anything. Anything at al."

Kate waited to look at the DVD until the FBI arrived, knowing they'd want to see it before anyone.

Special Agent Fellowes insisted on sitting behind Kate's desk to watch the DVD. There wasn't much to see. First was a shot of Staysa, either asleep or drugged, but with a copy of the morning paper across her chest. The background was entirely black.

Then there was a voiceover. The voice was very high pitched and sounded feminine.

"Sorry about the problem the other night, but as you can see, we have the girl and we want the money. We'll send instructions later."

The DVD ended.

Special Agent Fellowes grabbed the DVD and announced that she was sending it to the FBI crime lab. She sounded certain that they would find some useful evidence on it. Kate was not so sure.

After the FBI agents left, Tory came into Kate's office.

"I have that music DVD you asked for." She put down a DVD case for an old John Coltrane album.

"Oh, thanks. Been wanting that one. Any problems?"

Tory leaned in and whispered. "I checked it out. They're good, whoever they are. I think the DVD was shot with the sound turned off, then the voiceover added later. Nobody is ever going to find any background noise on that. The voice was obviously electronically altered, but I couldn't tell you what he, or she, sounds like in real life. And the background is absolutely black and nothing else."

Kate just shook her head sadly. She hadn't expected this to be easy, but they seemed to be dealing with a very sophisticated crew. After several hours with no word from the kidnappers, Kate decided to take a chance on contacting Raina. Maybe Raina would recognize something on the DVD.

Having checked out of the precinct and called Castle to say she'd be seeing some friends, she called Raina and asked her to meet at her old apartment.

Kate arrived at her old place to find the three women already there.

"Have you heard from the kidnappers?" Raina asked, desperately.

Kate nodded sadly. "I was sent a DVD. It has Staysa on it and a message from the kidnappers. I'll show it to you."

Kate went to the computer and put in the DVD. The women all gathered around to watch. As soon as Staysa picture came up, Raina screamed.

"Oh my God! Her face! Her face!"

"What happened to her face?" Demanded Colette, seeing nothing wrong with the girl.

"Nothing! Her face is fine, but before she was…disfigured."

"Castle knows a really good plastic surgeon. He wasn't able to do anything for her eye, she's still blind in one eye, but she looks normal now. And the doctor thinks she may be in less pain."

Raina wrapped her arms around Kate and sobbed "Thank you." Over and over again.

"You didn't have to do that." Raina whispered.

"If you save the life of Richard Castle's wife, believe me, there's no end to what he'll insist on doing for you. It really wasn't that much, considering Staysa is still in a coma."

Kate looked up to see that Colette and Rita were both crying.

"You three don't look much like the desperate criminals I've been told about."

"We weren't good people before, Captain Beckett." Colette said. "Myself especially. But we've changed and we'll do anything, and I mean anything for you now."

"All I want is to get Staysa back. We need to listen to the kidnappers demands."

They played the DVD several times.

"Do you hear anything that might be a help?" Kate asked.

Colette nodded. "The voice may sound like an American to you, but that man's native language is Russian."

Raina nodded. "He's a Russian. I can tell."

"Are you sure? I speak Russian myself and I don't hear anything."

"I'm sure. Absolutely sure."

"Raina, is there anyone at all in Russia, or Russians here is the US who'd want you? Have you done anything to them?"

Raina shook her head. "No. Vadalos and his people were Greek. I killed some neo-Nazis, but they were Americans. I killed a Central American drug dealer, but no Russians. Never. I never did anything in Russia that offended anyone."

"Colette, what are you thinking?" Beckett asked.

"My last job before I was caught. I was working for a bunch of Russian nationalists led by a man named Vladimir Bierko. Bierko was killed, but he has friends. Now that Putin is in power in Russia, his friends will be well placed to seek revenge against those who failed them. I escaped from prison in the US because I was taken to a hospital where I was to be murdered for failing Bierko."

"But why would the Russians take Staysa to get to you?" Kate asked. "She's not your sister?"

Colette shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they've figured out how close Raina, Rita and I have become. Maybe they think Raina is really me. Maybe they just don't give a shit and want to kill anyone they can. I don't know."

Kate turned to Rita. "Have you ever done anything to get the Russians mad at you?"

Rita shook her head. "I helped Colette escape after the hit on her went all pear shaped. But they'd be after her first, I bet."

Kate's phone rang.

"Beckett."

"It's Ryan. We may have gotten a small break. A bike messenger service had a kid come in to send a small package. The guy at the desk was suspicious that the kid was making such an effort to hide his face and he got really suspicious when he saw the package was addressed to you at the precinct. He tried to keep the kid there for us, but the kid ran. Normally, it'd take an hour or two to get the package to us. From the description, it's a cell phone. It's got to be from the kidnappers."

"I'll be in ASAP."

Kate hung up. "I've got to go. There's a package coming to the precinct. It's probably a cell phone from the kidnapper."

Kate got up to leave, but Colette grabbed her arm. "Let me make the ransom drop. If this is just about money, I'll be okay. If it's about me, then…maybe they'll let Staysa go when they have me."

Kate shook her head. "They'll be calling the shots. They'll certainly want someone as marginally involved in this as possible. I've dealt with kidnappers before."

The three women hugged Kate, then she headed for the precinct.

When she got there, Castle, Ryan, Esposito, Hastings, Tory and Morgenstern were in her office, gathered around her desk.

"It's an older cell phone. No GPS on this." Tory said. "And the bomb squad checked it over. It's okay."

"Anything on it?"

"Nothing."

"The FBI is here." Esposito said, glancing towards the elevators.

Special Agent Fellowes arrived with five other agents and a complete plan as to how the drop would be handled. Her plan lasted until they got the first text message from the kidnappers. There was a phone buzz and the message began.

SINCE WE KNOW YOU'LL TRY TO GET THE COPS INVOLVED IN THE DROP, THE HOT CAPTAIN WILL MAKE THE DROP. HAVE THE MONEY IN FRONT OF THE COFFEE SHOP TO THE SOUTH OF YOU IN FIVE MINUTES. YOU'LL GET INSTRUCTION THEN. NO GUNS, OTHER COPS OR ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICES. WE'LL KNOW AND THE GIRL WILL DIE.

"Damn!" Fellowes yelled. "Can we text them back and ask for more time?"

Kate just rolled her eyes. Even Fellowes seemed to realize it was a stupid idea.

Four minutes later Kate got another text sending her down a dark alley. To her surprise, there was someone in the alley. Everyone had guessed they'd send her all over the five boroughs to check that their orders had been obeyed.

"I have the money for you."

"Kate. It's me."

"Colette! What are you doing here?"

"I was hanging around the precinct hoping to tail whoever did the delivery. This is better. Give me the suitcase and the phone. I'll do the delivery."

"Colette, you can't…"

"I have on dark skinny jeans like you and a dark top and boots with four inch heels. We have similar tastes, I suppose. Give me your jacket and I'm you. Please Kate. It's better that if someone dies, it's me."

Kate cursed under her breath. "I hate this idea." But she took off her coat and handed it to Colette.

Colette went down the alley way, pulling the suitcase.

Kate looked up. Three stories above her a familiar face looked down at her and then literally disappeared. Kate had arranged for a bodyguard that no one would ever expect. Now she was guarding Colette.

Simone Renoir was curious as to why Colette Stenger was now delivering the ransom and not Kate, but she decided that she had better keep a sharp eye on Colette. As much as she had hated being a vampire for the last four centuries, she had to admit that there were advantages. She moved from the top of one building to the next effortlessly, disappearing from one roof top and reappearing on the next. Simone almost lost Colette when she was directed to go into the subway, but Simone just managed to get into a car as the door was closing.

Colette was sent to a grocery store that was open for twenty four hours a day. She was told to start at one end of the of the store and walk through every aisle until she got to the end and then leave. Colette assumed that someone in the store would be watching her carefully to see if she was armed or had any electronic devices on her. Colette took off the coat she'd borrowed from Kate. Both her skinny jeans and her top were tight enough to show she had nothing under them but her. She did, however, have a scalpel pushed down into one of her high topped boots.

As she passed the vegetable aisle, a man approached her.

He smiled. "You must be lonely if you're doing your grocery shopping on a night made for love." He put his arm around her. "Why don't we go to a little club not far from here? And then, maybe someplace else?"

Colette was sure that he wasn't one of the kidnappers, but she had to make sure.

She smiled back. "Why don't we just go to my place? We can have so much fun. I have handcuffs, and riding crops and I can spank you until…." But the man was already hurrying away.

"We could have so much fun" She called after him. Colette saw she was being watched by a young girl with a supermarket name tag on. She was just in her teens and she appeared to be shocked at what Colette had suggested.

Colette smiled at her, too. "I don't do that to many men, but he was a creep. Remember it when someone like that accosts you."

The girl nodded.

"Unless of course he likes that sort of thing. Then you might be in trouble."

Colette finished her walk through the store and went back out into the night. In seconds she was told to walk to a taxi stand a few blocks away and ask to be taken to a restaurant in Queens.

Three hours later Colette had been all over New York City and was finally told to go to an old abandoned factory in the Bronx. A text told her to go inside. There she found a long conveyer belt. Left over from whatever the factory had produced. However, this one showed signs of having been recently repaired.

The phone buzzed again, indicating a text had arrived.

PUT THE MONEY ON THE CONVEYER BELT AND LEAVE.

As soon as she put the suitcase down, the conveyor belt began to move.

"What about the girl?" She yelled, but got no reply.


	6. Chapter 6

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

As she walked through what had probably been offices in the old factory, she suddenly felt as if her whole body was on fire. She fell to the floor.

 _I've been tased._ She thought. _Why would they tase me?_

She heard at least three men running towards her.

"We've got one of them. We have one?"

 _One what?_ Colette thought.

"Inject her quickly." The voice definitely had a Russian accent.

"Are you sure. This dose will kill a normal person." Not Russian.

"Dammit! Do it. If she's ordinary, she's of no use to us."

Colette looked up to see a man in a ski mask kneeling over her, a syringe in his hand.

 _Better that I die than Kate Beckett._

The man suddenly pitched forward and fell on top of Colette. She could hear what sounded like two suppressed gunshots. Then she heard a voice.

 _American_. She thought.

"Sorry, Ms. Stenger, but I'll have to knock you out. But what I use won't kill you."

She felt a sting in her thigh and then all was dark.

When she woke up she made every effort to appear as if she was still unconscious. She was wondering if she dared to slightly open one eye when the man spoke.

"You're on a monitor, Ms. Stenger. I know you're awake."

Colette cursed in German and French and sat up. She found that her hands were cuffed in front of her and that her right arm was attached to some kind of machine. Colette looked around her. The room screamed government issue, from the grey steel desks and file cabinets to the beige carpets and the sickly green paint on the walls. Her hand slid to the scalpel in her boot top.

 _At least I can die and not go back to prison._

The scalpel was gone! She looked over at the only other person in the office. He was grey headed and grey bearded, but look fit and tough. His eyes were cold even though he smiled at her.

 _Another damned killer_. She thought. _Maybe I can get him to kill me._

Before she could come up with a plan, he spoke.

"I know that you've sworn to die rather than go back to prison, Ms. Stenger. Let me assure you that I have no intention of sending you to prison." He held up her scalpel. "Or of letting you kill yourself.

Colette did her best to smile back.

"And you wouldn't lie to me, would you?" She said sarcastically. "You wouldn't use me and then discard me, would you?"

"Actually, I wouldn't. I intend to….."

He was interrupted by the door opening and another person coming in.

"Marianne!" She was shocked to see her friend here. Like Colette, Marianne had her hands cuffed in front of her "What is she doing here? She has nothing to do with anything. Please, let her go. I'll do anything you want. You can do anything you want to me. Marianne has done nothing. Nothing at all."

The man picked up a piece of paper from his desk. "Nothing? It seems that Marianne…Smith is the name you're using now? Not at all imaginative."

Marianne just shrugged.

The man went on. "Actually, Marianne here robbed the box office of a fight in Mexico and used the money to provide supplies for Mexican terrorists."

Marianne shook her head. "We provided medicines and they were not terrorists but freedom fighters."

The man shrugged. "One man's freedom is another man's terrorist."

There was another knock on the door and when it opened, Raina and Rita walked in. Their hands were also cuffed in front of them, but Raina's left arm was through Rita's right arm, chaining them together.

"Rita Sullivan, an escaped prisoner from Florida. Raina Mavias who was a suspect in the murder of a number of gangsters and in the death of an LA cop. No charges were ever filed, but who knows what a more thorough investigation might reveal?"

"Do you know where Staysa, my sister is? Do you have her?" Raina demanded.

"We don't have her, but we know who does and we'll get your sister back for you, Ms. Mavias."

"Who the hell are you?" Raina screamed. "I just want my sister back, I want her safe. Do what you want with me, but help Staysa." She lowered her voice and smiled at the man. "I'll do anything."

The man laughed. "I don't think I've ever been propositioned by two identical looking women before."

There as another knock on the door and the office became much more crowded. Kate Beckett, her friend Simone Renoir, and a uniformed police officer who looked like Kate, but with shorter, darker hair entered. Two men followed. One Colette recognized as Kate's husband, the author, Richard Castle. The other man stayed very close to Simone. _A husband or a lover_. Colette thought. Lastly was another look alike, this one dressed in a conservative business suit. Colette had never seen her before. _Christ! How many of us are there?_

The grey haired man laughed and shook his head. "If someone had told me about this a year ago, I'd have laughed in his face. But now here we have eight Kate Beckett lookalikes. We've managed to do DNA tests on all of you and you're not at all related."

"Pardon." That was Simone. "But as the oldest, I'm sure that you mean we have Simone Renoir and seven woman who look like me."

"Whatever, Simone. But, I should introduce everyone so we know all of the players." He pointed to each woman I turn. "This is Colette Stenger, convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life without parole. Rita Sullivan, convicted of attempted murder. These two escaped with each other. Then we have Raina Mavais, who tracked down and murdered men who raped her sister and battered her into a coma. She was a suspect in those murders and in the death of the partner of a dirty LA cop. Marianne …Smith, armed robber and supporter of terrorists."

"Freedom fighters." Marianne said softly.

The man ignored her. "Then we have Captain Kate Beckett, NYPD, Officer Rachel Morgenstern, NYPD, Simone Renoir and last, Corrine Veneau, a top operative of Canadian Intelligence. One of their best,"

Corinne nodded. "But not as good as one of the British Secret Intelligence Service's best."

"Oh, you would have gotten your man. You Canadians always get your man, don't you?"

"That's the Mounties."

He shrugged. "That leaves us with Kate's husband, Richard Castle and Simone's husband, Flynn Carsen."

"Why are we all here together?" Colette asked. She turned to Kate. "You know I won't go back to prison. Can you help me? Or help my friends?"

"None of you will be going to prison." The grey haired man said.

Colette laughed. "Why should we believe you?"

Kate spoke. "Colette, this is my father in law, who calls himself Jackson Hunt. He's an intelligence operative. And if he says you won't go to prison, you won't. I'm sure he has his own reasons for that, but he also knows that's Rick and I would never forgive him for sending someone who saved my life to prison."

"Not to mention what Richard's mother and my wife would do to me." Hunt said with a chuckle.

"How do you propose to keep us out of prison?" Colette demanded. "Both Rita and I are already wanted. So is Marianne, I suppose."

"I can't get you another Presidential pardon, or a pardon for Rita from Florida, nor one from Mexico for Marianne. And Raina has never been convicted of anything."

"Then what good can you do?" Colette spat out.

"What I can do is doctor your records so that if any of you four ever get arrested, the authorities will find that none of your fingerprints, DNA, photographs, retinal scans or any other information on record matches any person wanted anyplace."

"You can actually do that?" Colette asked, looking to Rita, Raina and Marianne to see if they agreed. The three other woman were nodding.

"I can have it done. In fact, I took the liberty of doing it already."

Colette nodded slowly. "Okay. Now the big question. Why?"

"As you suspected, it's the Russians. To be precise, the FSB, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. The successor to the old Soviet KGB."

"Why would they want any of us. Is it about what I did? Do they want me?"

"They want all of you. All eight of you."

"But why?"

"The Russians are afraid they're falling behind the US in the vampire race."

"Vampire? Is that some kind of code word?"

The man shook his head. "No. It means vampire. You know, like Count Dracula."

"That's absurd. There are no such things as vampires." Colette looked at Kate, fearful that they had all fallen into the hands of a madman. But Kate seemed perfectly relaxed.

Before Colette could say another word, Simone had somehow crossed the room and lifted her up by the waist of her jeans. Simone's eyes were glowing and worse, she had fangs. Simone lifted Colette off the ground with one hand. Some kind of a scream or roar came from Simone's mouth. Colette tried to scream, but couldn't. Then she found herself and Simone in a hallway. Then at the end of the hallway, all without moving the intervening distance. Then the two were on the roof and then on the very edge of the roof. Colette did scream when Simone stepped off the roof. The fall was a good ten stories. Suddenly, they were back in the room with everyone else and Colette sank gratefully into her seat.

"I'm sorry, Colette." Simone said. "Sometimes it's easier to demonstrate than to explain." Simone turned to face everyone else. "My name is Simone and I'm a vampire." She giggled. "I sound like I'm in a twelve step program for vampires."

"I am over four hundred years old. When I was young I was turned into a vampire by Count Dracula. Yes, I know, Dracula was the Prince of Wallachia in what is now Rumania and everyone thinks that the stories of him being a vampire are just superstitious nonsense. Well, they aren't. I hated being a vampire and swore I would live only to kill Dracula. I have killed to protect myself and others. But, I have never fed on human beings. I would die first."

Simone walked over and took her husband's hand. "I met Flynn a few years ago. He was looking for the Judas Chalice. A chalice made from the thirty pieces of silver Judas received for betraying Christ. You see, Judas was the first vampire and according to legend, the chalice would bestow great power on any vampire who possessed it. Dracula wanted the chalice and I wanted Dracula. To make a long story short, I wasn't strong enough to defeat Dracula, but Flynn was smart enough to kill him." Simone sighed. "Although I loved Flynn, my soul was weary and I longed for death. I asked Flynn to sit with me to watch the sunrise, knowing that the sun's rays would kill me. But Flynn was holding the chalice against my body. Somehow, the chalice protected me. While I now have my vampire powers, I am more human now."

Kate interrupted. "Simone, you've always been human."

Hunt spoke. "The plot to steal the Judas Chalice was organized by an ex-KGB officer named Kubichek. Most of the ex-KGB types thought that Kubichek was crazy. That there were no such things as vampires. But there's a man called Nikolai Konev who thinks there really are vampires. He's now an senior officer in the Russian FSB. He organized the murders of Ms. Vadalos and her men and the kidnapping, again, of Staysa Mavias."

"But why kidnap Staysa if the target is Simone?" Raina demanded.

"Look around you. There are eight women here who look nearly exactly alike. You have slightly different hair color. There's at most a half an inch difference in your heights, but you could be octuplets. Konev has decided that the US has figured out a way to either clone vampires or that this is some sort of natural vampire breeding, or something. So, he wants you all."

"God!" Colette cried. "You mean we'll be running from the damned Russians all of our life? That's as bad as being in prison."

Hunt shook his head. "Konev is doing this on his own. The rest of the FSB thinks he's crazy, or at least delusional about vampires. But, he's utterly ruthless, intelligent, determined and efficient. As long as he's useful to them in other ways, his bosses are willing to overlook what they call his eccentricity. But, he's only got one FSB man with him. The rest are mercenaries. If he can be disposed of without any great fuss, the Russians will forget all about vampires.'

"But what about the CIA?" Colette asked, wondering if they weren't all going to end up in some government research facility that looked more like a prison.

Hunt laughed. "The CIA agrees with the FSB. There are no vampires and Konev is crazy. But we can't have an FSB agent wandering around the US causing problems, so they sent me. And, if it wasn't for a chance meeting with my daughter-in-law, I'd be convinced that Konev was crazy, too."

"So how do we take this Konev out?" Kate asked.

Hunt smiled and winked at Simone. "Luckily, I have a top secret, stealthy weapon at my disposal."

Simone smiled. " _Cher_ Jackson, I have never been called top secret, stealthy, or a weapon before."

"But you will admit you are all three."

Jackson Hunt looked around room. "Everyone just stay here. On addition to Simone, I have some associates of mine to help me." With that, Simone put her arms around Hunt and they disappeared.

They jumped through nighttime Manhattan and stopped across from the building where Konev was holding Staysa. The building was an expensive row house just off Central Park. As the people in the neighborhood liked both their privacy and security, the house had an excellent security system. In addition, the walls were quite thick which would help to keep the sound of suppressed gunfire from waking the neighbors. Surveillance systems had located every person in the house.

The state of the art security system had already been compromised by Hunt's team. Now they waited by the back of the house to make their entrance. A similar team was positioned in a house across the street in case anyone tried to leave by the front door. A third team had made their way over the roofs of the neighboring houses to the roof of their target.

When Hunt assured himself that everyone was in position, then told them to move in five seconds. As soon as the last word was out of his mouth, Simone grabbed him and in a split second, they were standing beside Konev in the master bedroom.

Simone swung at Konev. Vampires have superhuman strength, so Simone could have taken his head off. Instead, she hit him just hard enough to knock him out.

"Is Staysa okay?" Hunt whispered.

Before Simone could answer, the need for whispering disappeared in a fusillade of suppressed gunfire.

"She appears to be." Simone answered calmly.

"Then take her to the ambulance and come back here."


	7. Chapter 7

Together Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own none of this and there's a lot I don't own here. Rating: K Time: After Infinite Kates, which is here on FF dot net.

Simone picked up the woman and disappeared, reappearing beside an ambulance parked inconspicuously nearby. Simone pounded on the side of the ambulance. Doctors jumped out of the ambulance and took Staysa. Simone ran into an alley so that the doctors wouldn't see her highly unorthodox departure.

When she returned, she found Hunt casually talking to a man from his team.

"Everything go okay, Simone?"

"Of course."

"I have a car outside for us and Konev."

"Why keep him alive?" Simone was sure that all of his men were dead.

"I have plans for him. A moving van will get here later to remove the bodies and all evidence there was a battle here."

"What kind of plans?"

"It's a surprise."

A long limo pulled up outside. If there were any neighbors watching, they saw an attractive, but somewhat tipsy, young lady helping an obviously drunk man to the limo with the help of an older man. They drove off into the night.

They took Konev to the same CIA medical facility that Staysa had been sent to. The staff was not inclined to ask about the young woman they were treating, the unconscious man who was put into a medically induced coma, or the number of identical women at the facility.

While the doctors checked out Staysa, a crying Raina went back and forth, hugging everyone who was involved and thanking them profusely.

Finally, a doctor went to talk to Raina.

"Ma'am? Your sister isn't any the worse from her ordeal, but she's a bit dehydrated. We'd like to keep her here for twenty-four hours just to be sure." Raina hugged the doctor and thanked him, lapsing into Russian in her joy.

"If it's all right with you, Ms. Mavias, we'll pick Staysa and Konev up tomorrow night. With the help of Mr. Carsen, we have a plan for them both." Hunt said.

Raina was allowed to see her sister, then she went back to the hotel with Rita and Colette.

The next day, a limo arrived to take them to Castle's loft where Rick and Kate, Simone and Flynn, as well as Officer Morgenstern and Corinne Veneau were waiting for them.

Hunt wasn't there, so Raina went at once to Simone and Flynn.

"What's this plan you have for Staysa? And why does it involve that bastard Konev?" She demanded.

Simone put her arm around Raina.

"Please be patient, Raina. Hunt and the people at The Library have a few things to work out. But I'm sure everything will work out."

Both Rita and Colette came over to comfort Raina.

"Honey," Rita said, letting her Southern accent take over, "these folks have been really good to us, from day one. Don't you worry now. We'll get Staysa back to Mexico with us. We have enough money now to hire the very best of help for her. You'll be together."

Castle interrupted to say that lunch was now ready. From the looks of it, Castle had called every place in Manhattan to order their food. There seemed to be at least one plate of every kind of food you could think of there.

As they sat at the table and ate lunch, Colette, Rita and Raina were suddenly aware that they were sitting with two police officers, two unpaid, honorary, volunteer homicide detectives in Rick and Simone and one Canadian intelligence agent.

Corinne Veneau sensed that Colette especially was uneasy.

"Colette, we all know who you _were_ , and now we all know who you _are_. So, relax." Corinne smiled. "Hey did you ever hear about the time I got beaten by the number one British spy? I was after this asshole called Kabira. I had convinced him that I was madly in love with him. I'm about to make my move, and we walk in on this Brit with an attitude and gun. So, I'm trying to figure out what's going on and…"

Corinne was interrupted by a phone call.

"They're ready for Staysa at The Library." Castle said, putting down his phone. "We should go now."

"What can they possibly do for Staysa at The Library?" Raina asked. "I know it's a famous library and all, but what can they do?"

Simone smiled at her. "They helped a vampire become human, so who knows what they can do?"

Kate interrupted again. "Simone, you've always been human. More human than a lot of people I've known."

Simone laughed. "A human with slight case of vampirism?"

Castle had a stretch limo waiting outside that took them to The Library. Once there, Simone and Flynn led them to an elevator to the basement and then through a seemingly endless series of corridors. Finally, they turned a corner and found a slight, elderly balding man waiting.

"Everyone, this is Mr. Judson." Flynn said. "He's sort of in charge of The Library."

"Not exactly in charge." Judson muttered. "Just sort of, well…Shall we say…. We should get going."

Judson turned and walked through what appeared to be a solid wall, followed by Simone and Flynn. Colette took a step forward, then stopped.

Simone's head poked out of the wall. "Hurry, hurry. We don't want to be late."

Colette took a step forward and went through the wall and was followed by everyone else.

"It's a hologram." Colette said, reaching out to put her hand through the hologram. However, her hand met a solid wall. "What is this place? "

"It's The Library." Kate answered, as if that explained everything.

Except for Kate and Rick, Simone and Flynn, who had been to The Library many times before, everyone was amazed.

"What are those?" Corinne asked, certain that what she was seeing could not be.

"Those?" Judson replied. "Our flock dodos."

"Dodos are extinct."

Judson shrugged. "We'd better not tell them then. Or the Tasmanian tigers or the great auks. Probably shouldn't mention that to…"

"What's that?" Rita yelled, looking down into a vast tank of water.

"Nessie."

"What's a nessie?''

"The Loch Ness monster, although she's really quite sweet."

"Here comes Excalibur." Flynn warned.

A shining sword flew through the air and seemed to dance around Flynn, then Simone and then everyone else.

"As in King Arthur's sword, Excalibur?" Colette asked.

Flynn nodded. "That Merlin had a hell of an odd sense of humor."

Judson suddenly stopped. "We haven't passed the Holy Grail have we?"

"No." Said Flynn.

Judson pointed to his right. "Sorry. We made a wrong turn at the Golden Fleece. This way." In minutes they were at another room.

"Staysa." Raina yelled, running to her younger sister. Staysa was still in a coma on a hospital bed. In front of her was Konev, unconscious and on a gurney. Beside Konev was a large pole with two carved green snakes wrapped around it, topped with a pair of wings.

"What is that thing?" Raina demanded.

"The original caduceus, the ancient symbol for medicine. This is between five and six thousand years old."

"What does it do?" Raina demanded.

"It heals people." Judson said. Then added. "Sort of."

"Sort of? What the hell do you mean by sort of?"

"It will heal one person, but transfer their afflictions to another."

"And it works? You've tested it?" Raina could hardly believe it, but considering what she'd seen, she wasn't sure what to think.

"We've tested it on animals and on humans with very minor injuries. However, we'd like a more thorough test." He turned to Marianne. "Um, Ms. Smith? I believe you lost the vision in your right eye?"

Marianne nodded. "Yes. I was shot."

"Would you please step to the other side of the caduceus, please. About three feet away and facing us?"

Marianne did as he was told. As she did so, Judson began mumbling in a language that had been dead for millennia. At first nothing happened. Then the seemingly carved snakes began to writhe and the wings flapped gently. Suddenly Marianne screamed.

"Oh my god! I can see out of my right eye!"

She ran to Judson and began hugging him. Judson blushed and pushed her away.

"There's no need for that, young lady. We must continue."

Judson, Flynn and Simone examined Konev.

"His right eye isn't reacting to light. I'd say he's blind."

"Can someone push Staysa's bed to the other side of Konev, please?"

Raina rushed to do Judson's bidding.

Again, Judson mumbled and the snakes writhed, this time with much more vigor. In addition, the wings beat so hard that the caduceus rose nearly a foot off the floor. Then Staysa sat up and screamed.

"Raina! We have to get out of here. The men will be back…." She stopped, realizing that she didn't have any idea where she was. She also saw that there were quite a number of women there who looked much like her sister. She looked around. The surroundings were completely unfamiliar.

"Raina? Is that you? Where are we? Who are these people?"

Raina ran to Staysa and hugged her fiercely, crying with joy.

"It's a very, very long story, little sister, but it has a happy ending."

Konev, now with permanent brain damage, was left in a park at night. When the NYPD found him the next morning, they found a Russian diplomatic passport in his pocket. The Russian Consulate was notified and an ambulance was sent to start Konev on his long journey back to Russia.

A Detective Lieutenant Ryan advised the Russians that a man very closely matching Konev's description had been seen hanging around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the Devil's Vampires. After that, several high ranking members of the Devil's Vampires disappeared, never to be seen again.

The Russians displayed no interest in vampires after that.

Several months later, Colette Stenger was laying in the hot Mexican sunshine by the pool at her and her friend's home just north of Cabo San Lucas. She reached out for her margarita and took a long sip. She sat up and took a look at the friends who were more like family now.

She had invited her friends from New York to come to Mexico for a short vacation. It was a shame, Colette thought, that they couldn't do more together, but four women who looked alike had caused enough of a stir in Cabo San Lucas. Eight such women would have been impossible to keep quiet all over Mexico and far beyond.

Raina and Staysa had been inseparable ever since Staysa had come out of the coma. Now they sat at a table, chatting in Russian and planning Staysa's future. Thanks to Jackson Hunt, Staysa was a US citizen and hoped to go to college in San Diego so she'd be close to her sister. Raina hated the idea of having her sister move, but realized the girl had her own life to live.

Rita and Officer Morgenstern were playing chess together. As usual, Rita was losing, but not badly as she had when she first began. Morgenstern had aced both the NYPD detective's written exam and the interview. Now she was waiting for a detective position to open up. Rita was hoping to find a good man and begin another family. So far, without luck.

Marianne was laying on a chaise longue listening to music on her headphones, singing softly along with the songs. No longer self conscious about her right eye, she had begun singing in _Las Tres Virgenes,_ the bar, restaurant and hotel that she was now part owner of.

Corinne Veneau, the Canadian intelligence agent, was reading a dense book on computer security. She was planning for her next meeting with the British spy who'd beaten her to her last target. "He'll be the one walking away this time." She had sworn to herself.

Simone Renoir was lying face down while her husband slathered more sunscreen on her. Colette thought it was funny that she not only knew a vampire, but that she had had to send to the US for some heavy duty sunscreen for Simone. Who would believe a vampire who could get sunburned?

Kate Beckett and her husband were lying side by side touching each other gently. If things ran true to form, the two would excuse themselves and head for their bedroom. They'd probably soon be followed by Simone and Flynn.

Colette was interrupted by her cell phone. Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Carlos, the manager of the bar and restaurant.

"Yes, Carlos. What is it?"

"Senorita Colette, could you come right away, please?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Not exactly a problem."

"Then what is it?"

"A doctor and her husband from LA have checked into the hotel and are having lunch in the restaurant. You need to come see her. _Por favor_?"

Colette sighed and agreed to come, wondering what the problem was.

 **Author's note: It wouldn't surprise me at all if there were more stories about these ladies in the future. Don't you think it odd that Jackson Hunt asked for nothing in return for all he did?**

 **Next up is a short two parter, After The Time of Their Lives, in which Meredith finally gets her big break. What could possibly go wrong?**

 **And now I will have to start working on After Much Ado About Murder, Part Three to bring the story of Sir Richard and Lady Katherine to a fitting conclusion. Unless I decide to do another one.**


End file.
